Top SA Muslim leader says: ‘I am Hamas’

On the morning of 1 September, shortly after Israeli soldiers found the bodies of six young Israeli hostages executed by Hamas in Gaza, the president of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), Sheikh Riad Fataar, told a crowd in the middle of the Mother City, “I am Hamas! Cape Town is Hamas! Viva Hamas, viva!”.

Those he was addressing repeated, “Viva Hamas, viva!” and responded with laughter, cheers, and applause.

Fataar holds the highest position in the MJC, which is the most representative and influential Muslim religious organisation in the Western Cape. It’s recognised locally and internationally for the religious, cultural, and organisational roles it plays in South Africa. While it deals mainly with religious matters, it has evolved into an extremist political entity, openly supporting Hamas and its atrocities on and since 7 October.

Willem Els, terrorism expert and senior training co-ordinator at the Institute for Security Studies, warns that the sheikh’s rhetoric “opens the door” to “lone-wolf elements that might take it literally, and might act and cause harm [such as a terrorist attack]”.

Daniel Bloch, the executive director of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape SAJBD), says, “It’s deeply disappointing and disturbing to hear the president of the representative body of the Muslim community in South Africa, the MJC, side so unashamedly with Hamas, an internationally-recognised terrorist organisation which just this week murdered six hostages in cold blood. Hamas has clearly signalled its intention to kill all Jewish people and these ill-timed words from the MJC leader incite violence and hatred towards the local Jewish community.

“As a religious leader, Sheikh Fataar should be condemning the loss of innocent life and should be calling on Hamas to return the remaining hostages, which will inevitably lead to a ceasefire agreement,” says Bloch. “Instead, he has chosen to celebrate these murders and further exacerbate hatred towards the Jewish community.

“That the MJC stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people is to be expected, but siding with extremists should cause alarm to all South Africans and be called out,” he says. “The Cape SAJBD mourns the loss of all the innocent lives in this terrible war and we will continue to call for peace in the region.”

Says Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein, “This disturbing support for a brutal terror organisation isn’t isolated to the MJC. It’s part of a concerted effort to radicalise many stakeholders in South Africa, including the mainstream media, academia, and government.

“This radicalisation takes the form of stigmatising Israel by false accusations of genocide and the moral equivalence between Hamas, a murderous terror organisation, and Israel, a free democracy fighting for its life within the ethics of international law.

“This campaign has been effective, which is why open support of Hamas by the MJC is being raised as an issue only by the SA Jewish Report. No other media considers it objectionable or even noteworthy. The MJC statement is also a timely reminder for law enforcement to investigate the allegations raised by global media regarding how funds raised by the MJC and others for Hamas have been banked and transferred from South Africa via local banks to Hamas, an organisation on global terror lists.”

“When Sheikh Riad Fataar publicly declares, ‘I am Hamas’, he is unequivocally aligning himself with the ideology, values, and unconscionable atrocities of an internationally-designated terrorist organisation,” says South African Zionist Federation spokesperson Rolene Marks. “Hamas’s actions represent the pinnacle of human cruelty and barbarism, defying the most basic tenets of morality and human rights.

“On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a war against Israel, committing horrific atrocities including burning children alive, raping women, and shooting civilians in cold blood, acts documented by the terrorists themselves and corroborated by eyewitness accounts,” says Marks. “By identifying with Hamas, Fataar is endorsing genocidal mass murder, rape, the burning of children, the kidnapping and execution of hostages, and the genocide of the Jewish people, all of which are clearly outlined in the Hamas charter.

“Hamas has openly declared its goal to annihilate the state of Israel, a plan that would lead to the murder of nine million civilians, including Arabs, Jews, and others,” she says. “The organisation routinely sacrifices the lives of Gazan civilians by using them as human shields, storing weapons near babies’ cribs, in hospitals, and schools, while imprisoning hostages in civilian areas. Instead of using international aid to develop Gaza’s economy, Hamas has diverted billions of dollars to build tunnels for its fighters. Most recently, it executed six innocent hostages just days before a potential rescue.

“By identifying with Hamas, Fataar is publicly supporting an organisation that promotes terrorism, violence, and the systematic oppression of both Israelis and Palestinians,” Marks says.

Toby Dershowitz, the managing director of FDD Action, a non-partisan organisation that lobbies the United States Congress on national security issues, asks, “Is the sheikh calling on South African Muslims to kill any Jew they see on the street? Imagine the tragic implications for the good people of South Africa if that were the case, as it appears to be. South African leaders should regard the sheikh’s boastful comments as a threat to the community he claims to represent. They should investigate whether his incitement to violence should have consequences.

“By proclaiming, ‘I am Hamas,’ was the sheikh shamelessly justifying the savage murder at close range of six innocent hostages?” asks Dershowitz. “Was he encouraging Hamas to execute baby Kfir, who was just nine months old when he was kidnapped, among the 101 hostages Hamas still illegally holds? Was he bragging that he was part of a group that murdered nearly 1 200 people including Jews, Muslims, Druze, Christians, and Hindus, from 35 countries?

“It’s hard to imagine that the sheikh is unaware of Hamas’s hate-filled charter, which says the ‘day of judgement will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them’, which contradicts Islam’s tenets to love your neighbour,” she says. “People of good will, of faith or no faith, should educate themselves on the unlawful, hateful, violent, rejectionist, and morally bankrupt course Hamas has charted, which hasn’t brought a single moment of peace or success for the Palestinians.

“Rather than inciting violence by championing Hamas, responsible leaders – religious, political, or otherwise – ought to encourage those they shepherd to follow the path of peace, negotiations, and compromise, no matter how arduous.”